Tag: Tracey

As our friends and supporters know, Island Farm donkeys are in demand for Palm Sunday church services. This year was no exception.

The donkeys were not too bothered by the rather blustery March weather. Here (right) are a couple of pictures of Tracey, nicely turned-out and presentable wearing a freshly cleaned and polished bridle for the occasion.

With Tracey in the picture below-right are Barbara, Sue, Wanda and Jack (the dog). As usual, Tracey is calm and relaxed. If you recognize her from elsewhere on this website that might be because you watched our Carol Service video at which she made an appearance, then stayed on afterwards with various stable mates including Billy the goat and some sheep.

We hoped to include a photo of Tracey in the procession but due to wind and weather, it looked rather blurred so here are some other pictures of that (below) instead. As you can see, there were a lot of people and flapping robes to add to the inclement weather, but nothing fazes Tracey.

As you can see, the clips were recorded on a hand-held mobile phone.
Sorry about the occasional jitter but hopefully this conveys some sense of the occasion.

We started a few minutes after 7.30pm due to more people arriving, a good cause for delay as it was lovely to see so many of our friends and supporters despite the cold dark night.
The barn was almost full with everyone comfortably seated around tables. Not only was that cheerfully sociable, but it was especially convenient for enjoying the delicious mince pies and other treats afterwards. The above doesn’t give a fair impression of the number of people present because the person filming needed to stand no further back than almost halfway along the barn in order to include these views of the BENSON and ROKE BRASS BAND who played brilliantly for us, and of the Rev. Janice Chilton who conducted the service.

There are short clips of the band playing and the barn while people arrived, then some of the carols – including “Little Donkey” during which Linda brought in Tracey, the donkey who is also shown in the final clips of some of the animals that joined us in the barn for the carol service. Other animals present are included at the end. There were also some well-behaved dogs who were most welcome but are not shown.

Other features of the evening not depicted here included the stalls along the side of the barn at which volunteers sold various gifts including some delightful soft toys, knitted donkeys and other items from our shop. There were also two raffles that were drawn later in the evening and warming mulled wine, soft drinks and nibbles served after the music. Some people won nice prizes just in time for Christmas and much-needed funds were raised to contribute to the running of the sanctuary and the welfare of the donkeys in our care.

Thank-you again to the BENSON and ROKE BRASS BAND, Rev. Janice Chilton and everyone who came to support this event. A Happy New Year to all!